Steps Involved in Employee Grievance Procedure

Article shared by

Steps Involved in Employee Grievance Procedure!

Grievances are but natural in organisations. However like disciplinary problems, grievances also benefit none. Hence, there is a need for handling or redressing grievances. For this, most large organisations in India have, therefore, evolved a formal grievance procedure which enables an organisation to handle grievances satisfactorily. As a matter of fact, there are several substantive reasons for having a formal grievance procedure in an organisation.

The important ones are listed as follows:

(i) It provides an established and known method of processing grievances and keeps this open.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

(ii) It brings grievance to the knowledge of management so that it can know and understand them to take necessary action for their settlement.

(iii) It gives an assurance to the employee that there is a mechanism available to consider his or her grievance in a dispassionate and detached manner.

(iv) Venting his grievance and being heard gives the employee a feeling of being cared for. This not only gets it off his chest”, but also helps him improve his morale and productivity.

(v) Involving several levels of organisation in the grievance procedure provides help on two dimensions. Firstly, the supervisor who is the first level in the grievance process cannot be by-passed by the worker. Secondly, involvement of several hierarchical levels in the grievance machinery releases exclusive reliance on the supervisor who can’t jeopardize the interest of the employee. The supervisor knows his is a placatory role.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

(vi) Involvement of various levels makes them know the kinds of issues that concern workers and managers.

(vii) Lastly, it checks the managers from taking arbitrary and biased actions against the workers as they know that their actions are subject to challenge.

According to Michael Armstrong’, a formal grievance procedure provides the following benefits:

(i) A channel for an aggrieved employee to express and present his grievance.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

(ii) An assurance for dispassionate handling of one’s grievance.

(iii) An assurance about the availability of some machinery for prompt handling of grievance.

(iv) A means by which an aggrieved employee can release his feelings of discontent or dissatisfaction with his job.

Grievance which indicates discontent and dissatisfaction among employees adversely affects their productivity. In other words, by not initiating timely action to deal with grievance, the organisation tends to lose the productive efforts of the discontented employee. It is indeed unrealistic to assume that an aggrieved or dissatisfied employee will put his or her best efforts on the job. The redressal of the employees’ grievances, therefore, assumes importance.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The procedure the management applies to deal with the employees grievances can be stated as follows:

1. Timely Action:

The first and foremost requisite in grievance handling is to settle them immediately as and when they arise. Or say, grievances need to be nipped in the bud. Sooner the grievance is settled, lesser will be its effects on employees’ performance. This requires the first line supervisors be trained in recognizing and handling a grievance properly and promptly.

2. Accepting the Grievance:

The supervisor should try to recognize and accept the employee grievance as and when it is expressed. It must be noted that acceptance does not necessarily mean agreeing with the grievance, it simply shows the willingness of the supervisor to look into the complaint objectively and dispassionately to deal with the grievance. Evidences suggest that more the supervisor shows his or her concern for the employees, lesser is the number of grievances raised by the employees.

3. Identifying the Problem:

The grievance expressed by the employee maybe at times simply emotionally, over-toned, imaginary or vague. The supervisor, therefore, needs to identify or diagnose the problem stated by the employee.

4. Collecting the Facts:

Once the problem is identified as a real problem, the supervisor should, then, collect all the relevant facts and proofs relating to the grievance. The facts so collected need to be separated from the opinions and feelings to avoid distortions of the facts. It is useful to maintain the facts for future uses as and when these are required.

5. Analysing the cause of the Grievance:

Having collected all the facts and figures relating to the grievance, the next step involved in the grievance procedure is to establish and analyse the cause that led to grievance. The analysis of the cause will involve studying various aspects of the grievance such as the employees past history, frequency of the occurrence, management practices, union practices, etc.. Identification of the cause of the grievance helps the management take corrective measures to settle the grievance and also to prevent its recurrence.

6. Taking Decision:

In order to take the best decision to handle the grievance, alternative courses of actions are worked out. These are, then, evaluated in view of their consequences on the aggrieved employee, the union and the management. Finally, a decision is taken which is best suited to the given situation in the organisation. Such decision should serve as a precedent both within the department and the organisation.

7. Implementing the Decision:

The decision, whatsoever taken, must be immediately communicated to the employee and also implemented by the competent authority. McGregor’s “Hot- stove Rule” should be strictly followed while implementing the decision. The decision, thus, implemented should also be reviewed to know whether the grievance has been satisfactorily resolved or not.

In case, it is not resolved, the supervisor once again needs to go back to the whole procedure step by step to find out an appropriate decision or solution to resolve the grievance.

However, if the grievance is not resolved at the internal level, the grievance is, then, referred to an arbitrator who is acceptable to the employee as well as the management. The arbitrator follows a quasi-judicial process where both the parties present evidence.

Based on the evidences so produced, the matter is cross-examined in thread-bare. The arbitrator then thinks, applies his mind and arrives at a decision. The decision taken by arbitrator is final and binding on both the parties.

The Indian Institute of Personnel Management, Kolkata has listed the following five steps contained in a grievance procedure:

1. The employee should raise his or her grievance with the immediate supervisor.

2. If the decision taken by the supervisor is not acceptable to the aggrieved employee, he or she should be made known to whom next in the echelon of management, he or she should refer the grievance.

3. The grievance should be handled promptly and dispassionately.

4. Only the grievance raised by the employee having understood the instructions issued to him or her employer will register the protest and set the grievance handling procedure in motion.

5. If the aggrieved employee still remains dissatisfied, there will be no direct action by the either party which might prejudice the case or raise doubts while the grievance is being investigated.

Let us consider a unit level works grievance procedure as followed in the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO).

The procedure consists of the following stages:

Stage 1:

The worker fills in a grievance form and submits the same to the shift incharge for information and consideration.

Stage 2:

In case, he is not satisfied with the decision, he goes to the departmental head for the settlement of his grievance.

Stage 3:

If the aggrieved employee is still dissatisfied, he forwards it to the appropriate chairman of the zonal works committee (ZWC). Each zonal works committee consists of five management and five union representatives. Their decision is final and binding on both the parties. The individual grievances considered by the zonal committee pertain to promotion, suspension, discharge and dismissal.

Stage 4:

If the zonal committee either does not reach to a unanimous decision or the decision is not accepted by the employee, the grievance is, then, forwarded to the central works committee. This committee consists of representatives of top management and union officials. Here also, the unanimity of principle operators and the decision taken by the committee is binding on both the parties.

Stage 5:

If this committee also does not reach to an unanimous decision, the matter is referred to the Chairman of the company. His or her decision is final and is binding on both the parties.

The stage at which the grievance is settled indicates the climate or the spirit that prevails in the organisation. Obviously, lower the level of settlement, the quicker the redressal of a grievance. The concerned officer, be the supervisor or manager, remains in a position to “give and take” at initial lower stages such as stage 1. Gradually, he or she comes under the glare of publicity; his or her position becomes harder at the subsequent stages.

Viewed from an aggrieved employee’s point, the delay in the settlement of grievance would intensify his or her anxiety and dissatisfaction. Which, in turn would affect his or her morale and productivity. The colleagues would also get affected. For the organisation, the delay in settlement is a loss of goodwill and camaraderie that might have been built up over the period.